Moths of North Carolina
Scientific Name:
Common Name:
 Family (Alpha):
« »
View PDFTortricidae Members:
Choristoneura Members:
6 NC Records

Choristoneura obsoletana (Walker, 1863) - No Common Name

Taxonomy
Superfamily: Tortricoidea Family: TortricidaeSubfamily: TortricinaeTribe: ArchipiniP3 Number: 620296.00 MONA Number: 3631.00
Comments: Species of Choristoneura are Holarctic in distribution and occur mostly in the northern half and boreal regions of North America, the British Isles, Europe and northern Asia.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Forbes (1923); Freeman (1958)                                                                                 
Adult Markings: The following is based primarily on descriptions by Forbes (1923) and Freeman (1958). The head, palps, antennae, and thorax of the males are pale fawn, while the ground color of the forewing is pale fawn with slightly darker reticulations throughout. The forewing has very limited reddish-brown markings, with the dark basal patch that is present on some Choristoneura missing or obsolete. A small, triangular, subapical patch is usually present but is rather faint. A posteriorly oblique median band is present that extends from the costa to the inner margin, but the central region is obsolete, with distinct dark markings only present on the costa and near the inner margin. The hindwing can be either entirely sordid white, entirely light fuscous, or fuscous on the posterior half and whitish anteriorly and apically. The fringes of all wings are pale and shining. Females are similar but with a darker reddish-brown ground and purplish-black maculations. The forewing of males lack a costal fold and have a convex rather than sinuous costal and outer margin (Forbes, 1923).
Wingspan: 22-23 mm for males and 22-25 mm for females (Freeman, 1958)
Adult Structural Features: Dang (1992) and Freeman (1958) has illustrations of the male and female genitalia.
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Immatures and Development: The larvae are leaf rollers but details of the larval life history are undocumented.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: Choristoneura obsoletana is primarily found in the eastern US, but scattered populations have also been found in the central Rockies, and in Nevada, Utah, California and Oregon. In the East, the range extends from Maine southward to southern Florida and westward to central Texas, central Oklahoma, central Kansas, Iowa, and Minnesota. As of 2022, we have only three scattered records from the Coastal Plain and eastern Piedmont.
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
Flight Dates:
 High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
 Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
 Piedmont (Pd)
 Coastal Plain (CP)

Click on graph to enlarge